In a Long Term Evolution (LTE or LTE-Advanced, LTE/LTE-A) system, before sending received data, user equipment usually needs to obtain permission from a base station, that is, the user equipment needs to apply to the base station for an uplink transmission resource. The base station makes a scheduling decision after receiving the application, to determine whether to provide a corresponding service for the user equipment.
Currently, the user equipment applies to the base station for the uplink transmission resource in two main manners. In a first manner, when the base station has configured a scheduling request (SR) resource for the user equipment, the user equipment may apply to the base station for the uplink transmission resource by using the SR resource. In a second manner, when the base station configures no SR resource for the user equipment, the user equipment needs to first perform a random access process and then send data. When the base station can configure the SR resource for the user equipment, there are different cell scenarios. For example, in a cell scenario in which clear channel assessment (CCA) detection is performed, because a licensed cell for coverage is short of resource, an SR resource configuration period may be relatively long, and a relatively long time may be consumed to obtain the uplink transmission resource by using the SR resource. In a cell scenario in which CCA detection is not performed, before sending an SR to the base station by using the SR resource, to apply for the uplink transmission resource, the user equipment needs to complete a listen before talk (LBT) process; the user equipment can send data only when determining that a channel is idle; and if LBT fails, the user equipment fails to send data and therefore fails to apply for the uplink transmission resource, and the user equipment needs to apply for a resource again. Therefore, uplink transmission resource obtaining efficiency is low in both the manners.